


The Best Thing

by CleoBane



Category: Jimon - Fandom, The Shadowhunter Chronicles - All Media Types
Genre: Africa by Toto, Birthday Presents, Inspired by Music, M/M, Musician Simon Lewis, Our Song Prequel, POV Jace Wayland, Prequel, Sad Jace, When Jace Met Simon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-16
Updated: 2019-12-16
Packaged: 2021-02-26 05:00:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,398
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21817816
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CleoBane/pseuds/CleoBane
Summary: This is the prequel to Our Song or as I like to call it When Jace Met Simon.
Relationships: Simon Lewis/Jace Wayland
Kudos: 50





	The Best Thing

Jace was fucking pissed.

It was his birthday and from the moment he opened his eyes this morning, his entire day went to shit.

First, he was late for work and then his phone fell into the garbage disposal and he mistakenly turned it on and that was that. Then he spilled coffee on his shirt and had to change. Then at work, his delivery guy decided not to come to work so he had to deliver all his orders himself.

By 2pm, he was almost in tears.

He locked himself in his office and tried to stave off a panic attack. Everything, and he meant _every fucking thing_ that could have gone wrong today went horribly wrong.

It was his fucking birthday.

It should have been a good day.

To make matters worse, nobody had called him or even texted him. He had stopped over at the store to get a new phone in the middle of his deliveries and still, there were no calls from anybody.

To be fair, Kaelie, his cashier had decided to bake a cup cake with strawberry frosting and handed it over to him, singing “Happy Birthday” to him. That would have been cute and all but…

Kaelie couldn’t bake for shit.

And he was allergic to strawberry.

His phone rang when he was sitting on the floor with his back against the door of his office. He scrambled up to pick it up, feeling pathetic as he did so.

“Hello?” he said, cursing as he heard his voice shake. He wasn’t going to cry.

“Jonathan?” his mother said softly. “Are you OK, baby?”

That did it.

He burst into tears, feeling stupid and even more pathetic.

“Oh honey…” His mother cooed as he sobbed and told her about his godawful day.

“It’s my fucking birthday.” Jace croaked as he calmed down. She must have realized how upset he was because she didn’t give him any grief for swearing.

“Do you want to close up early and come home?” she asked. “I can make your favorite and we can watch those cartoons you like. It’ll be just like when you were little.”

“Mom. I’m 25.” He protested halfheartedly. That actually sounded nice.

“But you are still my baby.”

That made Jace tear up again. “OK, mom. I’ll be there in an hour.”

He made it to his mother’s house without any incident. His mother wrapped her arms around him and kissed his cheek. “Happy Birthday, baby.”

He hugged her tightly and she rubbed his back soothingly.

She fed him his favorite meal and they both lay on the couch watching cartoons. Well, he lay down with his head in his mother’s lap as she stroked his hair.

He was awoken by the sound of his new phone ringing. He was alone in the living room, the blanket pulled over him. He stared blearily at the screen and scowled.

“What?” he snapped.

“Jace, I’m so sorry!” Alec said quickly. “I swear I didn’t forget.”

“Uh huh.” Jace said,, sitting up. “So what do you want?”

“Don’t be like that.” Alec laughed. “Let me make it up to you.”

Jace rolled his eyes. He couldn’t stay mad at his best friend. “Just us?”

“Not exactly.” Alec said hesitantly and Jace groaned.

“Don’t tell me Bane will be there?” Jace sniped. It wasn’t as if he hated the guy, he just didn’t want to have to share Alec with the shiny man on his birthday. “It’s my birthday, Alec.”

“You’ll love this, I promise.” Alec said. “Also, I don’t know why you hate him. Magnus is awesome.”

“I don’t hate him. Exactly.” Jace groused. “I just want to have to share you.”

“Aww.” Alec cooed and Jace laughed. Ever since his best friend had started dating Bane, he had been less moody and had started using words like ‘OMG’ and making sounds like ‘Aww’ and ‘Ooh’.

“Fine.” Jace conceded.

“”Yay.” Alec said. “Cool. I’ll text you the address and we’ll be waiting.”

****

Jace chuckled as he walked into the club. It was one he had driven past a few times. If he had to guess, this was Magnus’ idea.

He heard the opening strains of a song he hadn’t heard in years and he turned to the stage.

And stopped in his tracks.

He was beautiful.

Brown hair messy and in need of a haircut. Round, wire rimmed glasses and long fingers plucking on the strings on an acoustic guitar.

_I hear the drums echoing tonight  
But she hears only whispers of some quiet conversation_

The singer looked up and Jace was caught staring, but he didn’t look away. He pushed his hands into the pockets of his jacket.

The guy winked at him and continued to sing:

“Hey Birthday boy.” Alec said next to him. Jace jumped and looked at his friend.

“Hey.” He said distractedly. He looked back to the stage. “Who is that?”

“Who?” Alec asked, bewildered. “The singer? That’s Sam, no Samuel, I think. He’s a friend of Magnus.”

“Oh.” Jace said. Then he made up his mind and straightened his shoulders. It was his birthday afterall. And with the day he had, he deserved something good. And he was going to get it. “I’ll be right back.”

“What?” Alec asked following him. “What-Where are you going?”

“To get myself a birthday present.”

He stopped right in front of the stage and the guy stopped playing. “Hi.”

Jace grinned and was sure his cheeks were flushed. “Hi.”

The guy, Samuel, grinned. “My name is Simon.”

OK, so Alec was wrong about the name. “I’m Jace.”

“Nice to meet you, Jace.” Simon said, grinning delightedly. “Very nice.”

“It’s my birthday.” Jace said, grinning back like a loon while cringing internally.

“Oh?” Simon’s eyes widened. “Happy Birthday. Any requests?”

“I really like that song.” Jace blurted. “And you sing it really well.”

“I could sing it for you.” Simon said. “Would that be OK?”

“And can I have your number?” Jace cursed himself for his word vomit but relaxed when Simon smiled wider.

“Tell you what.” Simon started. “When I’m done here, how about I buy you a drink?”

“OK.”

“Sweet.” Simon straightened. Then; “From the top?”

“OK.” Jace said again. Then he watched as Simon resumed his position the stage and started playing his guitar again.

_I hear the drums echoing tonight  
But she hears only whispers of some quiet conversation  
He's coming in, 12:30 flight  
The moonlit wings reflect the stars that guide me towards salvation  
I stopped an old man along the way  
Hoping to find some old forgotten words or ancient melodies  
He turned to me as if to say, "Hurry boy, **I’m** waiting **here** for you"_

_It's gonna take a lot to drag me away from you  
There's nothing that a hundred men or more could ever do  
I bless the rains down in Africa  
Gonna take some time to do the things we never had (ooh, ooh)_

“What just happened?” Alec asked when Jace finally walked back to his friend.

“The best thing.” Jace said, giddy. He knew he was grinning like an idiot but he didn’t care. “I’m having drinks with him after this song. He’s singing for me, you know?”

“Really?” Alec asked skeptically. “Him?

“Yeah.” Jace breathed. “And his name is Simon.”

_The wild dogs cry out in the night  
As they grow restless, longing for some solitary company  
I know that I must do what's right  
As sure as Kilimanjaro rises like Olympus above the Serengeti  
I seek to cure what's deep inside, frightened of this thing that I've become_

_It's gonna take a lot to drag me away from you  
There's nothing that a hundred men or more could ever do  
I bless the rains down in Africa  
Gonna take some time to do the things we never had (ooh, ooh)_

_Hurry boy, she's waiting there for you_

_It's gonna take a lot to drag me away from you  
There's nothing that a hundred men or more could ever do  
I bless the rains down in Africa  
I bless the rains down in Africa  
(I bless the rain)  
I bless the rains down in Africa (I bless the rain)  
I bless the rains down in Africa  
I bless the rains down in Africa (ah, gonna take the time)  
Gonna take some time to do the things we never had (ooh, ooh)_


End file.
